Completely New Naming System for Psychotropic Drugs Proposed
A group of influential organizations are beginning an effort to change the entire way that psychiatric medications are named, according to a press release...
New Study Raises Doubts About fMRI Neuroimaging Research
More than forty thousand papers have been published using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to explore the brain. A new analysis of the common...
Pfizer Settling Chantix Lawsuits
Pfizer is in the final stages of settling 660 lawsuits filed between 2009 and 2012 by people who complained of of psychological problems, including...
Antidepressant Use Associated With More Violent Suicide Attempts
A new study found that taking an antidepressant medication was associated with a heightened risk of suicide using violent means.
Dr. Oz Takes on Big Pharma
Dr. Oz looks at the research on antidepressants today, finding that they are over-prescribed, may be counter-productive or harmful, may not work at all,...
Cigarette Smoking and Cannabis Equally Associated With ‘Psychotic-Like’ Experiences
Research from the Netherlands finds, in a nationwide survey of 1929 young adults, that cigarette smoking and cannabis were equally strongly associated with the...
FDA Applies Uneven Standards to New Drugs’ Safety and Efficacy
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that, although "many patients and physicians assume that the safety and effectiveness of...
ADHD Prescribing Differs Substantially in UK vs. US
An article in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry finds that the UK's new guidelines for treating attention and depression problems in children recommend a...
Risk of Cardiovascular Death Increased After Psychiatric Hospitalization
The rate of death due to heart-related problems is more than double the rate in the general population after psychiatric hospitalization.
Both Older and Younger Parental Age Linked to Mental Health
Recent research has focused on a seemingly high rate of psychiatric disorders in the offspring of older fathers. Â New research in JAMA Psychiatry, using...
Cancer Risk Higher for Those on Clozapine
The antipsychotic clozapine, considered the “gold-standard” treatment for psychosis, was found to increase the risk of blood and lymph system cancers.
New Study Casts Doubt on Efficacy of Ketamine for Depression
A new study, published this month in the Journal of Affective Disorders, investigated the effectiveness of weekly intravenous ketamine injections as a treatment for...
Major Review Finds Antidepressants Ineffective, Potentially Harmful for Children and Teens
In a large review study published this week in The Lancet, researchers assessed the effectiveness and potential harms of fourteen different antidepressants for their use in children and adolescents. The negative results, familiar to MIA readers, are now making major headlines.
BJP Announces “The End of the Psychopharmacological Revolution”
The editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry, in a comment on Morrison et al.'s "Antipsychotics: is it Time to Introduce Patient Choice," announces...
Substance Use “Dramatically Higher” Among Those With Severe Psychosis Diagnoses
In "the largest assessment of substance use among individuals with severe psychotic illness to date," researchers from Washington University and the University of Southern...
Antipsychotics Not Helpful for Anorexia
A review of all research on the use of antipsychotics for the treatment of anorexia nervosa found no demonstrable efficacy in terms of body...
New Analysis: Antidepressants Still Linked to Suicide
“This is remarkable for drugs that are used to treat depressive symptoms,” write the researchers.
Antidepressant is Toxic to Fungus
Zoloft isn't just for depression any more; it also kills fungal meningitis. Researchers from Texas A&M find that "The problem for many current antifungal...
Five-year Study Re-affirms that Housing Stabilizes People
A five-year study involving 497 homeless people with mental health or addictions problems in Vancouver found that, when provided free apartments, most people “stabilized...
Custody of Justina Pelletier to Be Decided Tomorrow
The custody of Justina Pelletier, a Connecticut 15-year-old whose odyssey of diagnosis with "Somatoform Disorder" has trapped her in Boston Children's Hospital since last February, will...
Thoughtful Insight, Not Lack of It, Drives Some Patients to Quit Psychiatric Medications
Rather than a "lack of insight," it is actually a thoughtful weighing of complex risks and benefits that ultimately drives some people diagnosed with bipolar disorder to eschew psychiatric medications, according to a qualitative study in the Journal of Affective Disorders. And these people often develop sophisticated strategies in their efforts to manage without medications.
J&J Fraud Plea Prompts Academics to Regret Participation
Following Johnson & Johnson's record $2.2 billion settlement for criminal marketing — including $1.4 billion related to its marketing of Risperdal, making it one of the...
Traumatic Life Events, Not Genetics or Chemical Imbalance Cause Depression and Anxiety
Researchers from three U.K. Universities analyzed the responses of 32,827 people to online questionnaires, finding that  social deprivation and traumatic or abusive life-experiences strongly...
Why Some Children with Depressed Parents Show Resilience
Children of parents who suffer from depression have a severely heightened risk of mental health problems, but new research points to several factors that seem to strengthen young peoples’ resilience and predict good mental health.
Antidepressants Linked to Risk of Adult-Onset Diabetes
A meta-analysis of studies of 168,435 adults who were free of diabetes at baseline found that those who used antidepressant medication were 68% more...
